Member Avatar for mah300274

Hi I have an apple powerbook G4 1.67GHz 15" Screen etc.... (a1138).

I bought it and am working on it (fix computers here and there)

I had to replace the bottom case because it had a few large dents (one was by the charging port so I had to buy a new bottom).

I also bought a new charger because it did not come with one.

I took everyting out (being careful, anti-static mat and etc....)
Replaced everything in the new case.

When I went to power it on, nothing.

I woke up, and had a dream that I forgot to screw down the down cable from the charging area. The dream was right so I screwed it down. Went to power it on, and head the speaker making a weird buzzing sound, so I unplugged it and it turned off. I returned it on and the speaker did it again but I could here it making booting sounds through the buzzing in the left side speaker. With my headlight I could see the screen barely and could move the mouse around and etc. I turned it off and messed with the cables to hope to brihten the screen but I went to turn it back on and nothing.

I also need to mention that the battery on the bottom (where if you press the button then it will show how much juice is left) does nothing when you press it. So I do not think it is charging. But with a volt meter I could see it is sending a current down to it. I also checked a few capacitors on the mobo and they are recieving power.

I looked online some said a hard reset would work, it did not. I tried resetting the ram, nothing. Another form said that a 45watt charger would not work after a while (what I bought) so I am wondering if I should buy the 65watt charger (on the fourm it was a mac support person or somthing that told him to try it).

Thanks for the help in advance!! :)

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Dani AI

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A short, practical note for (and anyone who lands here): case swaps on older PowerBook G4 models commonly upset the DC-in/battery transfer connections, the display/inverter cabling, or the power-management state. The steps below are ordered so the least-invasive checks come first, then quick firmware resets, then board-level diagnostics.

  1. Basic reseat and visual check — confirm the DC-in/charger jack board, battery connector and the display/inverter ribbon are fully seated, and look for bent pins, torn traces or scorched components. Test boot with the internal battery removed and AC only (watch the adapter LED). Use a multimeter only if comfortable; check for presence of adapter voltage at the DC-in harness before probing the logic board.
  2. Reset the Power Management Unit (PMU) — on PowerPC PowerBooks this is the recommended reset for charging/startup anomalies. The common key method is Control + Option + Shift + Power (press and release simultaneously), wait a few seconds, then press Power to start. If that fails, some models provide a tiny PMU reset switch/pads on the logic board that can be shorted briefly; follow service docs or a teardown guide when doing this. (discussions.apple.com)
  3. Confirm the charger is the correct, known-good unit — 15" PowerBook G4 models use a 65 W Apple adapter; undersized or third-party bricks can behave erratically. (everymac.com)

If those steps do not restore reliable power, the likely culprits are the DC-in (power) board, the battery-transfer board/PRAM battery, or failing power rails on the logic board. Board-level faults can cause speaker buzzing, faint backlight or partial boot behavior; the “flashlight over the screen” trick helps tell a backlight/inverter issue from a no-signal situation. If comfortable, test or swap the small boards (DC-in, battery-transfer) before replacing a full logic board; otherwise consider a professional board-level repair or a donor board. (ifixit.com)

ESD safety, step-by-step pictures and a methodical parts-swapping order save time: document connector orientations, keep small screws organized, and avoid probing energized logic-board pads unless experienced. moving this thread to the Apple section was appropriate; the model-specific teardown pages and parts lists will speed parts-sourcing and diagnosis.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

if i was a admin i would move you the apple section but im not so maybe you could just copy paste this into a new thread in the apple section good luck .
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/forum11.html

Member Avatar for mah300274

ok, I moved it to the apple hardware & device section... hope that helps...

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